Padam Pokhari, Chitwan

I was posted to Chitwan, well known for its National Park. The bus ride from Kathmandu to Narayangadh (a town in Chitwan) took about 5.5 hours, including a 30-minute stop for brunch.

At Narayangadh, I was received by Sanjiv (a 22-year old young man), he was already waiting for me when I arrived. When I saw him, I noticed that he had a cast around his right ankle. He had sprained his ankle during a soccer game about 10 days ago, it looked pretty serious. I was quite surprised to see an injured man receiving me, and what surprised me more was "Sanjiv is such a young man, I was expecting to see someone at least in the mid-thirties! To me, he is just a BOY! Even younger than my niece and nephew".


Sanjiv (a T-shirt given by Amanda, a volunteer from NYC)

After you get to know him better, Sanjiv is so mature in his thinking and behaviour, he is much more responsible , reliable and mature than someone who is 30 years old . He is like a care-taker for all the volunteers who are posted to that area. He works for Hope and Home, and he will liaise with all necessary parties (school or health post) with regards to our placement, to ensure that our placement are OK. He takes good care of all volunteers and ensure we are alright. Even though we may be requesting for something extra, he will be so obliging in helping us. A great young man, who is resourceful and helpful.

After Sanjiv has finished his medical treatment (for his ankle) in the hospital, he brought me to a supermarket, to buy some necessities (like Washing Powder, Toilet Paper, etc). They don't provide toilet paper, because they don't need it (you know what I mean? OK, I shall not elaborate.)

I stayed in a village called Padam Pokhari, about another 45 minutes taxi ride away from Narayangadh. During the ride, I already started to notice how rural is the place. Rice fields, corns fields, mud houses, animals (cows, buffaloes, goats) everywhere, non-tarred road, and so on.


Padi Field



Corns Field




This is how the road look like. Full of stones and pebbles. Very difficult to cycle on it, especially when my cycling skill is so BAD! My butt ached after every ride, because it was so bumpy!



You can see goats/cows eating grasses along the road. A very common scene here.

It was about 4pm, when we finally arrived at the Hope and Home Library House at Padam Pokhari. I was quite happy with the accommodation arranged, I was expecting the worst, but it actually turned out to be not that bad. At least, the toilet and shower room are indoors, I thought I may be showering in the open ... thanks God!


Hope and Home Library House (my room is the one on the left, very warm, just like a sauna! If you want free sauna, come here!)




My Room. My bed is the one on the left. The bed on the right was taken by Dominic (another volunteer, from England), but he left 2 days after I arrived, so I got my entire room to myself! The mosquito net is a MUST, the mosquitoes there love my blood (O+) very much. I am always the one being attached by mosquitoes! One of the nights, while I was sleeping, I accidentally trapped 2 mosquitoes inside the net, and you should be able to guess what happened to me after that night. :'(

Chitwan is a Malaria-proned area, remember to take anti-malaria pills, and the required vaccinations before you go to Nepal. Go to Tan Tock Seng Travellers' Clinic for vaccinations.


Shower Room (the water comes from the water tank on the roof)


Squatting Toilet!!! (Sorry for my knees! It was always a challenge for me to stand up after doing my business)


Day Bed. This is the place for us to relax during the day. Mainly occupied by Sanjiv, while he was studying for his examination, but not for long, he dozed off after a short while. Haha...


Is Sanjiv studying or sleeping? See the bandage on his anke? Wrapped by me! After this placement, I become quite good at massaging the leg and doing bandages.


Stable (for the goats). Just beside the Library House.



Have you seen the real "Pigeon Holes"? Do these holes resembles those mailboxes ("pigeon holes") we have in our office?


Dining Table (just outside the Kitchen)


Water Tank on the rooftop (We need to fill the tank periodically with the hose). The hose drew water from underground, very clean water, potable. I was quite amazed, even the tap water of some developed countries are not potable.


Radha (Sanjiv's mother) in her "workplace" (the Kitchen). I called her, Didi (Elder Sister). She cooked for us, excellent cook! Very delicious! Mainly, we eat Rice and Vegetables. (In Nepali, it is called "Dal Bhat"). This is the main staple diet for most Nepalese.

Dal = Lentil soup, usually eaten with rice
Bhat = Steamed Rice
Tarkari = Curried Vegetables


Radha washing the dishes


Stairs leading to the rooftop. The rooftop was our favourite hangout place in the evening, because it was cooler up there in the evening. From there, you could see the sunset. At night, you could see lots of stars and even the milky way galaxy. Due to the darkness of the surrounding, we could see thousands/millions of stars in the night sky! An excellent place for lying down and seeing the stars, except for the sickening mosquitoes!!!

I was just thinking how could we make better use of the rooftop. Probably, we could build a small shelter there, with some floor mats for chatting, or playing games.


Sunset


Sanjiv tidying up the shelves (with my help of course! He is an injured man!)




Are you keen to help to fill up those shelves? They need donations! Pass to me, I may be there again...

During this trip, I bought some stationeries (exercise books, pencils, abacus for teaching Maths, Scrabble board game) for the kids. I also spent 1-2 days in making the Pictionary Board Game for the kids. However, I have no time to teach them before I left. I have passed the responsibility to Amanda, who will be there for another 1.5 weeks.


These pens are donated by Meow Leng (Thank you so much, Meow Leng).


Desk for the kids while learning in the Library House. Sanjiv teaches the kids English and Mathematics in the morning, between 7am and 9am. Sometimes, we (the volunteers) will help him out.


Satil


Aashika


Abatar (younger brother of Aashika)


(from Left ro Right) Aashika, Satil, Abatar, Sachita




The kids like to dance




Sanjiv's nephew


Consistent Electricity Supply is a problem in Nepal. Everyday, there were power breakdown for a few times. On the average, there may be a total of 4-6 hours of power interruption. During my stay, the longest period without power was 48 hours! The first night (with the 48-hour breakdown) was so warm, and I couldn't sleep, I woke up to shower every 2 hours! The next day, I felt sick! Sanjiv didn't sleep too, he was sleeping outside the house (because it was too warm inside), and he was "kissed" by many mosquitoes that night!

We should treasure what we have. In Singapore, we often take things for granted, having electrical supply is a norm. If there is a power break down of 10 minutes, it would cause a BIG Hoo-Ha, and for sure, it will appear as the Headlines in tomorrow's newspaper. Just imagine these villagers are suffering this every day, for their life. Can you imagine how fortunate you are? Why complain when you are already in a much better situation as compared to the unfortunate?


Sanjiv and Amanda; Blue and White; Soccer and Volleyball.








Do you remember the song "Planting rice is never fun"? Try to bend down and plant the rice for an entire day, I am sure your backbone will SCREAM for HELP! The villagers here are farmers. Too bad, I don't have a chance to experience planting rice during this trip, I will do so during my next trip (if I have the opportunity). Sanjiv, recover fast, so that you can bring me to the padi fields.





Look at her palm












They are still using buffaloes to plow the land. No tractor!


Have you seen a spider this BIG?


Sanjiv's school




Radha and Sanjiv. I used these two photographs to draw the following picture.


I have much time in the afternoon after school, so I decided to draw a picture of the Library House, and give it (as a souvenir) to Sanjiv.


Hope and Home Library House
Padam Pokhari, Chitwan, Nepal
A Paradise on Earth
A Land of Happiness
Where people lead a simple life
But yet Happy!


Aashika is helping Amanda to do her hair. Very professional looking.


On 22-Jul-2009 about 6:45am. Nepal was not in the path of the Total Eclipse, this was the best I could capture.





Villagers. They are all very friendly. I usually cycle around the village in the evening when the sun is not so hot. They will definitely say "hello" to me, when I cycled pass their home. Some will invite me to take pictures.



On a clear day, we could see the snow-capped mountains.


Sanjiv sitting on top of a bus. On Friday (24-Jul), Sanjiv needed to go to the hospital for his appointment. I accompanied him to the hospital at Narayandadh. This day was another FRESH NEW Experience for me. Firstly, I have to walk about 30-40 minutes to the bus stop from the Library House, and then waited for the bus which come at a frequency of 1 hour, and then a bus ride of another 1 hour or so! All-in-all, we spent almost 3 hours on the road (one way)! I never expect the village is in such a remote location. I thought this only happened in the movie, but it happened in real life!

You (Singaporeans, and others staying in developed countries) who are reading this, your country has very good public transport services, and moving from one place to another is so convenient and fast, please treasure what you have!


Sitting on top of the bus is a very nice experience. I rather sit up here, than to squeeze inside a jammed-packed bus. I can tell you, you wouldn't like it to be inside the bus, and you cannot imagine how packed it is. I experienced it when I went to Narayangadh on another day, it was so packed that I couldn't move, left-right-front-back are people, body touching body, without any room for movement. I almost cramped during that one-hour bus ride!



Sanjiv - My Vanja (which means Nephew).


Eating his favourite buffalo's meat


Dominic, Radha, Carrie. Dominic is from England and Carrie from America, they left 2 days after I arrived.



Sanjiv having a picture with the volunteers. It must be hard on him, volunteers come-and-go, when he got to be closer to a volunteer, it was about time for the volunteer to leave that place. So, I guess he will feel sad every 2-3 weeks, when another volunteer leave the Library House. Well, that is part of life I guess. 天下无不的宴席

Soon it is my turn to bid farewell. I hate to say goodbye, I am an emotional person, and I am easily attached to close friends, no matter how short the period is. Within 10 days, I made very good friends with Sanjiv & family, that I am really feeling very sad to leave them. Although you can see my usual smile on the following pictures, I am actually feeling sad...依依不舍









Bye bye, Sanjiv, Radha and Surya. I will be back!!!